


baby, you can't stomp me out

by Aho_Mika_Baka



Category: Villains Series - V. E. Schwab
Genre: I'm Sorry, Lockland Era, Lockland University, M/M, Out Of Character? I Wouldn't Know, Roommates, The Homoeroticism Of Tying Your Friend's Shoes, Unresolved Tension, dumb boys, shoelaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26287834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aho_Mika_Baka/pseuds/Aho_Mika_Baka
Summary: He sees through him, he knows Eli is a good manipulator, always has been (Victor guesses it takes one to know one), but he is growing fidgety while Eli, the ever-brilliant holier-than-thou bastard is as still as he was when they started this truthfully ridiculous conversation.
Relationships: Eli Cardale | Eli Ever/Victor Vale
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	baby, you can't stomp me out

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song "[Stomp Me Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axbdAmgMO18)" by Bryce Fox.
> 
> Hello, I am back with yet another fic about these insufferable idiots-
> 
> It is short, it has no plot, but a certain conversation triggered the need of writing it in me, and so it became to be.
> 
> This is for my evervale family, ily.

„Wait.“

Victor slows down his pace, hands in the pockets of his coat as he cranes his head backwards where Eli is supposed to be following him, and hums out in question.

„My shoes are untied,“ Eli calls out, having fallen a few steps behind. When Victor turns fully around, he looks pointedly at him before gesturing to his left shoe – the laces of it completely undone – as a matter of fact.

Frowning in slight confusion, Victor asks. „So?“

„You know I hurt my back, Vic,“ comes the answer from Eli, so plain and deadpan as if it's supposed to give a solution to every unanswered question in the world. In a way, it is, because Victor was there when it happened. The two of them had offered to help carry some boxes for one of their teachers a few days ago ( _Eli_ had promised, Victor had tagged along) when Eli picked up a particularly heavy one and pulled a muscle with the abrupt and incautious movement. Nevertheless...

„It's not _my_ problem, it's yours,“ says Victor, shrugging nonchalantly to prove a point. Truth is, he is getting restless. The clock is ticking and they are expected at a club meeting with Angie. They don't exactly belong to the club but Angie had asked nicely, and neither of them actually wants to disappoint her.

„Oh, so you'd rather carry me to our destination after I've tripped and cracked my scull open on the sidewalk?“ snaps Eli, crossing his arms over his broad chest, making a show of not moving an inch from where he is standing in the middle of the road.

„I don't know, Eli– There's a bench right there,“ he replies, exasperated. It is such a simple thing and Eli is being stubborn. He bets there is nothing wrong with him anymore. At least Victor didn't hear him complaining about back pain all day yesterday, nor today. „Sit down and tie your shoe, we're going to be late.“

After a moment of silence, Eli speaks up, brown eyes catching Victor's blue with a certain firmness. „You do it,“ he says, letting his hands fall to his sides once again.

„What?“

„You'll tie my shoelaces,“ Eli repeats, voice even and clear, as if trying to make a point to a disobedient child, or as if speaking to an elder who really doesn't understand the talk of today's young people anymore.

Victor snorts out loud. „In your dreams, Cardale.“ Who does he think he is? A servant? A mother? No, Eli is acting like a pouting child, refusing to take another step until he gets the toy he picked out in the store – embarrassing, really. He should know better than to assume Victor would surrender easily.

Eli is still standing at the exact same spot he stopped at, a few steps behind Victor. „I'm not leaving this spot until you do,“ he says, his chin raised just slightly, dark eyes determined, his posture straight and haughty.

Narrowing his eyes ever so little, Victor stays quiet as he tries to put together all the pieces of the puzzle in his mind. Surely Eli is being irrational – he can't mean it, not truly. Eli is much stronger, and can withstand much more than some people think. This isn't about his back injury anymore, it is about asserting dominance. Whatever is he thinking, trying to overpower Victor with his own ego and superiority complex.

„My back really hurts, Vic,“ Eli tries again, managing a little emotion into his voice, but the real reason behind his perseverance is shining through the cracks of his facade of perfection, visible to Victor, and Victor only.

Time is slipping through their fingers and Victor is at crossroads. The phone in his pocket buzzes once in anticipation, most likely sporting a text message from Angie if Victor were to check. In this tension though, Victor wouldn't dare – it's like the air is full of explosive gas and one spark is all it takes.

He sees through him, he knows Eli is a good manipulator, always has been (Victor guesses it takes one to know one), but he is growing fidgety while Eli, the ever-brilliant holier-than-thou bastard is as still as he was when they started this truthfully ridiculous conversation. Victor suspects that the only reason he hasn't said _no_ yet is that he is curious. He wants to see more of the true Eli, the Eli that hides under his skin and is constantly looking for a way out.

Victor closes his eyes and sighs before walking forward, crossing the distance between the two of them in a few strides, and squatting down in front of Eli. He takes the laces in his hands and begins knotting, _slowly_ , deliberately drawing out this moment as he glances up, wanting to see the look on Eli's face. But when he does, his hands halt for a short moment, because Eli, peering down on him with his head raised high, is blocking the Sun, and appears to Victor only as a shadowed figure, surrounded by a halo of light.

Victor swallows dry and Eli's fingers twitch at his sides, as if they want to grab a hold of something. Suppressing a smirk with a grimace, Victor turns his attention back to the shoelaces in his hands and focuses on finishing the familiar movements. With Eli's shoe now displaying an ideal knot, Victor takes a moment of consideration before standing up straight.

They stand only a few inches away from each other, eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. There's a challenge in Victor's eyes and something almost feral in Eli's. A shudder runs up Victor's spine, his slightly parted lips quivering with words swallowed and Eli's gaze falls to them before finding their way up again.

„We're already late, let's get going,“ Victor says eventually, finding it unreasonably difficult to pull himself back and put some distance between himself and Eli.

„Yeah, okay,“ mutters Eli, blinking himself to clarity and stepping to the side to walk past Victor, leaving him standing there, alone, for a few seconds until he hears his footsteps following him down the road.

**Author's Note:**

> Ta~da~
> 
> I hope this satisfies your needs (at least for now), you yearners.
> 
> Come and yell at me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/xungxtae).


End file.
